“It’s an irony, but we think no stigma towards Gabby and her brain injury, but he has a brain injury as well, because clearly his brain was not working properly when he picked up that gun and shot all those people,” Kennedy said in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday night in a special report about the Rhode Island Democrat’s history of mental illness and addiction.

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“In every picture you saw” of Loughner, it was “clear that this is someone who is mentally, physically challenged with these psychotic breaks that he was suffering from,” Kennedy said.

Loughner is due back in federal court on Wednesday as U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns decides whether the 22-year-old is mentally fit to stand trial. Burns will be working off the reports submitted by two doctors, since the prosecution and defense both agreed last week that there’s no need for the doctors to testify at the hearing. The Wall Street Journal has taken that as a sign that Loughner isn’t incompetent to stand trial, since the defense would likely contest any findings suggesting he is competent.

“We failed as society because every time we see someone who’s — and we use the pejorative words ‘crazy,’ you know, ‘psycho,’ ‘nuts,’ we look the other way,” Kennedy said. “We say oh, well, we’re not going to help them.” Loughner is accused of killing six and injuring 13 including Giffords, an Arizona Democrat.

Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), decided not to run for reelection in 2010 after serving seven terms in Congress. On Monday, he’s launching the One Mind Research Forum, a three-day event in Boston aimed at bringing together scientists and politicians to discuss brain injuries and illnesses. Vice President Joe Biden is among those scheduled to speak.

CLARIFICATION: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story was published with an incorrect headline. Jared Loughner has been charged in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords but has not been convicted.

Readers' Comments (39)

I feel sympathy to the tax payers of Arizona who are paying for the murderer's daily 3 hots and a cot, not to mention his attorneys and special help councilors. Money for a guy who should have been vaporized by now. t5he best thing a society can do for itself is kill people like the Giffords shooter (I'm not one to mention names of people who should never be famous) and don't look back. Some people's only contribution to society is being a bad example. Let's follow through and kill him.

Yes, by all means, start another non-profit that sits around and talks something to death, but keeps you in another job. blah...blah...blah....

anyone who shoots another person outside of a combat situation is mentally ill. McVeigh was mentally ill. What's new here? Degrees of mental illness? What's the solution? Bringing scientists together or doing something about the gun laws in America? Oh yes, I forgot, the Democrats lost that battle on gun control, didn't they? More like, they abandoned it just like they have abandoned every thing they ever stood for.

I wonder why Patrick didn't suggest the Kennedy family solution to their 'mentally challenged' family member..Joe jr, John and Bobbie's sister.......a frontal lobotomy and a life in a Catholic home for the mentally ill?

Why would Kennedy jump into this mess.... yes, we, as a nation, do fail our children when not taking them to get help but we spend more than most countries on mental illness and we lock up more people than all other nations ... solutions may not be obvious....

It is clear that many have not had the " privilege" of knowing people who are seriously mentally ill based on the comments here. To say that this guy is mentally ill is not to suggest that he should ever be allowed on the street even if he is treated and appears to be normal. Whether he is mentally ill and should be treated and whether society could take a chance on his being anywhere but prison are two very different issues. And all you law and order types should consider that if we spent a few more pennies on outpatient mental health care we would save the big dollars spent on putting the mentally ill in prison (approximately 30% of the prison population has serious mental illnesses that would respond to treatment). Penny wise and pound foolish.

Apparently these posters cannot be the same people who want to take care of the poor and helpless of this country. You all show your ignorance. Mentally ill people in the US, especially those who are not wealthy, have very little access to treatment. Of course, the drug companies will offer a pill as the cure for anything judging from all their commercials. You people talk the talk but when it comes to action you will turn your heads in disgust. Support the politicians who destroy the lives of millions with their actions, throw your dollars at entertainers whos morals are in the gutter, but deride those who really have a mental illness. Most people have little to recommend them as human beings. And I am not a faux bleeding heart liberal but have witnessed the torment of the mentally ill while working in hospital emergency rooms.

Once again we are seeing that compassionate conservatism at work. Having compassion for an obvious mentally ill person does not mean that you don't weep for the victim. For many these feelings are not mutually exclusive. Apparently for conservatives they are. Many in this forum prove Mr. Kennedy's point.

It's good to see Patrick Kennedy is still speaking out on behalf of those who suffer from mental illness. There remains a terrible stigma attached to mental illness and medical care ffor the mentally ill often remains inadequate or non existent. Funds for programs designed to help the mentally ill are often the first cut in hard economic times. The Kennedy naysayers can criticize Patrick all they want but I'm glad to see him championing the causes of the mentally ill and fostering greater understanding of their struggles. I hope he continues to be an advocate for the mentally ill and remains a strong voice on their behalf.

BTW, "We failed as society "? Because this nut went on a shooting spree, "We failed as society".

No. I didn't fail society because this nut went on a shooting spree and the idea that you should be able to identify every nut that's capable of doing something like this is idiotic.

The only thing that we as a society will have failed at is exterminating this useless waste of oxygen. We will have failed at that because people like the Kennedys, when they aren't drowning secretarys or humping 14 year olds, "care" too much to let that happen.

There are striking resemblances between Jared Loughner and John Bedell, the March 2010 Pentagon shooter. According to MSNBC, "Bedell was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic depressive, and had been in and out of treatment programs for years. His psychiatrist, J. Michael Nelson, said Bedell tried to self-medicate with marijuana, inadvertently making his symptoms more pronounced." Sounds eerily similar, but no one is discussing the affect of marijuana use by mentally unstable people or the impact of recent efforts to promote the ease of access to and the use of marijuana. Lots of people are talking about additional legislation to restrict access the mentally ill have to guns, and that may be a good discussion, but where is the discussion of limiting access the mentally ill have to marijuana? MJ may be a rather benign drug for most people but as we have now seen on multiple occasions, it can contribute to horrifying consequences for others. From Thomson’s Micromedex here are the documented psychiatric side effects of THC….see if any of them apply to the Arizona shooter: Anxiety Delusions of persecution Depersonalization Depression Disturbances in thinking Hallucinations

Why isn't Patrick Kennedy speaking out against the real mental illness at play here - the over-the-top violent rhetoric of Sarah Palin and the Teabaggers.

* “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” Barack Obama in July 2008 * “I want you to argue with them and get in their face!” Barack Obama, September 2008 * “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry!” Barack Obama on ACORN Mobs, March 2010 * “We talk to these folks… so I know whose ass to kick.” Barack Obama on the private sector, June 2010 * “A Republican majority in Congress would mean ‘hand-to-hand combat’ on Capitol Hill for the next two years, threatening policies Democrats have enacted to stabilize the economy.” Barack Obama, October 6, 2010 * “We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends” Barack Obama to Latinos, October 2010